


Sorry

by TheWorldOnlyISee



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Gen, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-05
Updated: 2013-03-05
Packaged: 2017-12-04 09:16:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/709098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWorldOnlyISee/pseuds/TheWorldOnlyISee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The way Frost was acting lately was making Bunnymund nervous. The boy stayed in the Warren from sun up to sun down almost every day, there were no pranks or insults, and if it weren’t for the occasional endearments of Cottontail or Kangaroo Bunnymund would have thought the boy was seriously sick.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sorry

**Author's Note:**

> This fic did not want to be written. And even now I’m still not happy with it, but I just can’t look at it anymore. Anywho, this is a sorta fluffy but mostly Hurt/Comfort Pre-slash JackRabbit fic that (hopefully) addresses one of the things that bothered me in the movie. I hope you guys like it!

           Bunnymund finished adding a white lily to a red and pink googie with a flourish. He held up the little ankle biter to admire his work, as well as let the paint on its side dry a bit, and nodded in satisfaction before lowering his paw to let the egg jump out of his palm. The googie, standing tall and proud to show off its new colors, seemed to look around a bit before jogging over to join the rest of the eggs that had already been painted. When it was about a foot away, the group noticed it coming towards them and they all began jumping excitedly once it joined them under the large oak tree they had clustered around.

             

            Bunny cleaned his brush of white paint before looking around for another googie to decorate. There were about five or six of them wandering around or climbing on top of the Pooka and Bunny reached for the one trying to jump over his crossed legs to prevent it from accidentally cracking its shell. It kicked its legs in frustration as Bunny looked it over from every angle, and once he finally settled it down in his paw to reach for the purple paint the little googie sat to wait for its first coat of the royal color.  

 

             “Alright, everybody into the river!”

 

            Bunny sighed and set his brush to the side for a moment, tipping his head back to look up at the sky and pray for the strength to deal with overly enthusiastic winter spirits for yet another day. He stared up at the sight of creeping vines hanging on to an artificially lightened ceiling and took a moment to breathe in the comforting scent of spring before once again setting in to work.

 

            Jack Frost was herding a particularly large group of white googies towards the river, guiding them with words and the occasional blast of frost when they started drifting away from the colorful water. Of the thirty or so he had gathered maybe three or four would jump in at a time, and Jack was forced to scoop up many a straggler with his staff before they were all bobbing up and down in the water.  The Winter Spirit smirked when he spotted a few of them kicking their little legs to reach the shore, and then leapt into the air to find another cluster that needed to be painted.

 

            The Guardian of Fun had dropped in on the Warren the day after North’s annual Christmas party to offer Bunnymund help with his Easter preparations. Surprised, and more than a bit suspicious, Bunny had been reluctant to let Jack help him with his holiday. But one look at those wide, hopeful baby blues had Bunnymund agreeing to let Jack help out with some of the simpler preparations as “long as there wasn’ any funny business ya hear?”

 

            Bunny would be the first to admit that the help had been welcome: he had much more time to paint and decorate the eggs how he wanted since Jack took over the more tedious responsibilities of clearing the tunnels and herding the eggs and weeding his immense garden. Hell, he’d even had time to make a new chocolate recipe for the ankle biters, which was something he hadn’t been able to do for a couple of decades.

 

           

 

            The Pooka felt a light tapping on his paw, and when he looked down to investigate he saw the half finished googie he’d been working on kicking him repeatedly in the thumb. Chagrined, Bunny added a simple red swirl to finish off the egg before letting it down to join its little mates. Knowing he probably wasn’t going to get much more work done in his current mood, Bunnymund set aside his paints and brushes and then shooed the googies around him in the direction Jack had gone.

 

            Jack.

 

            The way Frost was acting lately was making Bunnymund nervous. The boy stayed in the Warren from sun up to sun down almost every day, and there were times that Bunnymund would have to literally shove Frost out of his Warren to make sure that he was still giving the northern countries snow periodically. There were no pranks or insults, and if it weren’t for the occasional endearments of Cottontail or Kangaroo Bunnymund would have thought the boy was seriously sick.  

 

            It wasn’t as though Bunny thought that Jack couldn’t be helpful- the battle with Pitch had lain to rest any reservations he’d had regarding the boys’ character- but there was something unnatural with the way he went about it. Jack Frost was a mischievous prankster that lived and breathed for fun and play, and while Bunnymund took great pleasure in preparing for his holiday, he just couldn’t see how it could hold the Guardian of Fun’s attention for long. And yet there he was, perched on a tree branch to look for more eggs after months of doing exactly the same thing every day.

 

            And Bunnymund was going to find out why.

 

            “Oi Frostbite! Get your arse ova’ here! I’ve gotta talk ta ya for a bit!” Bunnymund noted the way Jack flinched when he called his name, and stood up to wait patiently for the Winter Spirit to land in front of him.

 

            “What’s up Cottontail? Do you need any more tunnels cleared? I thought you said I got them all?” The boys’ expression was open and eager, but for the first time Bunny noticed the slight apprehension shining in his blue eyes. What on Earth…?

 

            “Nah mate, you got ‘em all. This is somethin’ a bit different.”

 

            “Oh, did I miss some weeds or something then? I’ll look over the flower patches again after…”

 

            “It’s not that, Jack.” Frosts’ eyes widened a bit at Bunny’s serious tone, and almost instantly his body language changed. It was almost like he was curling in on himself, gripping his staff tightly in his hands and bowing his head ever so slightly, and Bunny cut in before the apology he could see in Jacks’ eyes made its’ way to his lips.

 

            “Don’t worry mate, ya didn’t do anything wrong. I just wanted ta ask ya a few questions is all.”

 

            “Oh.” Jack slowly straightened from his defensive posture, though Bunny noticed that his hands didn’t loosen their grip on his staff. “What did you want to know?”

 

            Bunnymund paused, trying to think of a way to breach the subject delicately.

 

            “Why are ya doin’ hangin’ around here so much Frost?” Well, no one had ever accused Bunny of being sensitive. Or subtle for that matter.

 

            He watched as Jacks’ expression shifted from confused to angry to finally settling on hurt, and Bunny smoothed back his ears in frustration.

 

            “What Bunny, you don’t like the help?”

 

            “Damn it. That’s not what I… Jack, that’s not what I meant ta say. I mean it was but, just, ugh!” Bunnymund made a low disgruntled noise in the back of his throat when he noticed Jacks’ expression wasn’t changing.

 

            “Look. You’ve been hangin’ around ‘ere ever since North’s blasted Christmas party tryin’ ta help with anything and everything, and it’s not like I don’t appreciate it, ‘cause I do, but then ya started neglecting yer duties as a Guardian.”

 

            Bunny threw up his arms in exasperation. “I have to practically throw ya out of the Warren just ta get ya ta keep up with spreading snow ‘n frost across the Northern Continent, never mind getting ya ta start giving the kids snow days again.”

 

            He gave Jack a stern look. “Now ya can’t tell me that that isn’t a problem.”

 

            Jack bit his lip and looked away from Bunny, tucking his staff into the crook of his arm so he could thrust his hands into his pockets. He didn’t say anything.

 

            “Hey don’t give me that, I’m just worried is all.” He put his paw on Jacks shoulder, and the sudden touch startled the boy enough that he turned to stare at it.

 

            “It’s not like ya ta neglect the ankle biters like this. And I wanna know why yer doin’ it.” Jack looked up at the Pooka, guilt and uncertainty written in his expression. Then he took a deep breath and stared down at his feet.

 

            “I just wanted this Easter to be perfect, is all. I mean, after what happened last year with Pitch and my memories I, I wanted to make sure that nothing would go wrong.”

 

            Oh… _Oh._

 

“Jack,” Bunnymund said gently, “that wasn’t yer fault.”

            Once things had calmed down for the Guardians, as much as they ever calmed down anyway, Bunny had realized that he’d probably been too hard on Frost during Easter. Sure, Jack probably shouldn’t have followed strange voices and Bunnymund had been deeply upset by the ruining of his holiday, but neither of those things was excuse enough for the way Bunnymund had gone off on the boy.

 

            “Not my fault? _You’re_ one who said I shouldn’t be trusted.”

 

            _“_ _He has to go.”_

_“What?”_

_“We should_ never _have trusted you!”_

            He hadn’t been fair, really. Jack had gone so long without contact with people that it was no surprise he had gone after a voice that he recognized calling his name. And besides, even if Jack had been there to help protect the eggs, there was no telling if Pitch could have been stopped anyway. After all: if North, Toothiana, and Bunnymund together couldn’t stop the Nightmares from destroying the Warren, Jack, even with his staff and considerable power probably couldn’t have either.

 

            “I shouldn’t have said those things mate.” He tightened his grip on the boys’ shoulder in what he hoped was a comforting gesture. “I’m sorry.”

 

             Bunny was surprised when Jack suddenly jerked out of his touch. He was even more surprised when the boy threw his staff on the ground to reach up and start pulling at his hair.

 

            “Why are you sorry? You shouldn’t be sorry! I-I-I was the one who screwed everything up and ruined Easter and made the kids stop believing in you.” Jack looked up at Bunny then, hands falling to his sides in defeat, and Bunnymund was horrified to see tears start to build up in the corner of his eyes.

 

            “Hey now, what are ya doin’? Are ya, oh no don’t cry! Uh, uh…” Bunny started waving his hands in a panic when Jack fell to his knees and buried his face in his hands.

 

            “I should be the one saying sorry.”

 

            Bunny, unsure of what to do, knelt down next to Jack and hesitantly reached out towards him. Meeting no resistance, the Pooka pulled Frost close until the boy wrapped his arms around Bunny’s neck and buried his face into his fur.

 

            “There now, don’t cry. It wasn’t yer fault. Don’t cry, don’t cry. Shhh…” Bunny rubbed circles into Frost’s back as the boy clutched desperately at his fur. A few googies, attracted by the noise made by the two Guardians, clustered around Jack and Bunny to offer their own sort of comfort. Jack turned his head to look at the eggs cuddling around his legs and choked out a laugh, his tears slowly halting in his amusement.

 

            The two pulled apart so Jack could wipe his eyes, and Bunny reached over to tussle the boy’s hair.

 

            “You all right then Jackie?”

 

            “Yeah,” he sniffed. “Yeah I’m alright.”

 

            Bunny nodded. “Good.”

 

            Standing up with a groan, Bunnymund held out his paw for the Winter Spirit. Jack grabbed his staff before taking Bunny’s paw with a smile.

 

            “Now then, I don’ want ta hear any more a’ this nonsense.” Bunny said once Jack had righted himself, carefully avoiding stepping on any googies in the process.

 

            “As far as I’m concerned, last year is over an’ done with. Pitch is gone, and the Easter preparations ‘ave gone off without a hitch. There’s nothin’ ta worry about, an’ there’s definitely nothin’ ta apologize for.”

 

            Jack smiled up at him shyly, and Bunny cleared his throat awkwardly when his stomach flipped at the sight.

 

            “Now, I reckon there’s time for one more snow day for the ankle biters before Easter.”

 

            “But Bunny…”

 

            “But nothin’. Yer the one who’s been shirkin’ yer duties for all these months, now ya got ta make up for it.”

 

            The Pooka made shooing motions and pointedly ignored Frosts’ pout as he was herded towards the tunnels.

 

            “Now I don’t wanna see hide nor hair of ya before yer done icing up the Northern Hemisphere.” They made it to the entrance of the tunnel that led to North America, and Bunny couldn’t keep the smirk off his face when Jack turned around.

 

            “And for the Moons sake Frostbite, go an’ have a little fun.”

 

            Jack laughed before leaping into the air, letting the Wind pull him into the tunnel and back to the surface. Bunnymund, satisfied that he had gotten through to his fellow Guardian, turned back towards his Warren so that he could start painting again.

 

            Suddenly Bunny felt a slight pressure on his cheek, and when he turned he got a cold snowflake to the nose and the sound of bright laughter ringing in his ear.

 

            “Thanks Bunny.” The Pooka saw a flash of blue before Jack was gone, riding the Wind through his tunnels and leaving Bunnymund frozen even as a brief burst of Joy coursed through him.

 

            Later he would ask if Frost had done anything to make his snowflakes more powerful, and when asked why, he would pointedly not mention that the Joy he’d felt had stayed with him for the rest of the day.

           

 

 

           

           

 

           

           

 

           

 

                       

           

             


End file.
